Flora of New Zealand Series

spreading hedge-parsley

Erect annual. Stems densely hairy above but glabrous or sparsely hairy near base, solid, striate, 20-60-(100) cm high, sometimes purple tinged; hairs deflexed. Basal lvs densely hairy above and below, 2-pinnate, petiolate; ultimate segments ovate to lanceolate, pinnatifid and serrate, 15-45 mm long, sessile or shortly petiolulate; stem lvs similar to basal, but 1-pinnate or pinnately 3-foliolate toward apex with less divided segments. Umbels 1-4-(5) cm diam., long-pedunculate, usually terminal; rays (2)-3-9, 5-20-(30) mm long; bracts 0-1, linear; bracteoles 5-6, linear. Fls few to numerous, white or tinged pink, c. 2 mm diam., irregular. Fr. ovoid, 3.5-4.5 mm long; all mericarps spinous; spines curved upward, thickened at tip.

N.: locally common throughout but not collected from Taranaki; S.: lowland Canterbury from Christchurch northwards.

Europe, Mediterranean, Persia, Turkistan 1935

Waste places, gardens, pasture, forest margins, coastal habitats.

FL Nov-Mar.

Spreading hedge-parsley is very similar to T. japonica, but is distinguished by generally fewer bracts and rays, and by the thickened spine tips of the frs (Fig. 13). It has been previously recorded in N.Z. as Caucalis arvensis.